Grit dog wrote:
If you've ever driven a srw pickup with a big long heavy camper (or just heavy) I think you'd find that if you're in situations where departure angle is an issue, stability, gradeability and tire/suspension damage will be of concern before dragging @ss going through a creek bed.
On board air system is not a great bang for the buck for this condition IMO.
You're not going to get much more height than whatever your "correct" ride ht/suspension engagement is for normal stable travel.
If you plan on really off roading with a camper, IMO concentrate on having more truck than you would normally need for a given camper and find a model with that isn't enormously longer than your truck bed, but more importantly doesn't drop down vertically behind the trucks back bumper.
Example, my AF camper, while maxing out my truck payload wise and overhanging the back of the bed almost 3' has a good departure angle for what it is because there's no vertical overhang to reduce vertical clearance. I've run it out on some gravel bars on the Copper river and had no clearance problems with dips, holes, river banks. My limiting factors were not breaking, bending, tipping or sticking a 12000lb rig in the middle of the river in remote territory. An ideal setup for those trips would be a camper, even of the same length, but considerably lighter, or a much heavier suspension/truck than stock springs and airbags.
Was looking at an eventual 2017+ F350 DRW LB CC but also noodling around with a flatbed which adds permanent height which is an advantage and disadvantage at the same time.